


Happily Ever After

by tirsynni



Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: Dark, Dubious Consent, F/M, M/M, Mind Control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-21
Updated: 2012-01-21
Packaged: 2017-10-29 21:56:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/324592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tirsynni/pseuds/tirsynni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fairytales do come true.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Happily Ever After

  
One thing Seifer Almasy loved about the ocean was, even while everything else changed (or died), the ocean was still the same as it had been when he was a child. Sitting on the dock, legs swinging under him, Seifer watched the waves. The sun set bathed the water in dark reds and oranges, a roiling blaze as far as the eye could see. He dipped one foot in the water, hazily expecting to feel the burn.

He heard footsteps on the dock and automatically reached for his gunblade. Too late, Seifer bitterly remembered the blade was broken, lost in defeat.

Rinoa settled carefully beside him, and Seifer tensed. Her dainty feet didn’t come close to the red-tinged waves below. Seifer stubbornly looked away, focusing on the horizon. Every day, it seemed a little farther away.

“Why are you doing this?” Rinoa murmured, voice gentle and coaxing. She used the same tone years ago to try to convince him to become an activist instead of a mercenary…until she realized he could put his mercenary connections to use for her. Seifer barely bit back a flinch when she rested a hand on his arm. “You’re welcome back, you know. No one has any hard feelings.”

Seifer clenched his fists. A lifetime ago, he never would have considered hitting that beautiful face. A lifetime ago, he didn’t see her as more than an easy fuck, either. Now look where they were.

The knowledge of the lion behind him kept his fists still more than propriety. Just because Seifer was declawed didn’t mean Squall was: the opposite, in fact.

The little shit even had to be a better knight than he.

“Not interested,” Seifer said shortly, her pity salt on an open wound. His pride writhed like a dying thing inside him. “Don’t you have better things to do?”

Rinoa gently squeezed his arm, her smile almost maternally tender. _Foolish child,_ he could almost hear her saying. “I always have time for you, Seify,” she said.

Her voice was so warm, inviting, and for a moment, it was easy to remember how he had fallen for her, even if it had only been a summer fling. Seifer hadn’t realized how passionate she had been about her causes back then.

A reminder of how passionate she was stood behind them, gunblade probably bared, icy eyes boring into Seifer’s back.

“Doesn’t your prince get jealous?” Seifer bit out. A year ago, two, he would have gotten a reaction. Now it was only silence behind him while Rinoa shook her head. Her smile never wavered. It had no reason to.

“Squall knows we’re together forever,” she said confidently. “True love lasts forever.”

Seifer gritted his teeth. Squall’s love didn’t involve flowers and sweet nothings; Squall’s love involved metal and blood.

But Squall’s love didn’t matter: only Rinoa’s.

Only the love from Rinoa’s fairytales.

“This isn’t how it’s supposed to be, Seifer,” she coaxed, and he could feel her magic lapping at him like the water was lapping at his feet. Unlike the water, though, her magic could burn him. “A knight like you? You have a destiny in front of you.”

Finally, Seifer turned to look at her. Rinoa lit up when he did, and he studied her. Beautiful, shining Rinoa: truly a fairytale princess.

But Seifer had had enough of fairytales.

He pulled away from her magic, the only positive influence leftover from being Ultimecia’s knight. “Not interested,” he said flatly.

Still nothing from Squall. If Rinoa breathed the word, Squall would stab him from behind and leave him to die on the dock…of course, picking Rinoa up so his blood wouldn’t stain her dress.

Rinoa pouted, and looking past her, Seifer could still see the remnants of her rage. Little things like rebels didn’t exist in this princess’s fairytale. Neither did mercenaries.

Seifer glanced quickly at Squall, only to look back out at the water.

Squall’s dead eyes lingered in his mind.

“Oh, well,” Rinoa said with a dramatic sigh. She stood and dusted herself off, and Squall was immediately at her side, one arm extended. His gunblade was held loosely in his other hand, end trailing on the dock. “I suppose I’ll have to try again tomorrow.”

Seifer grunted, not responding. Squall said nothing as he and Rinoa walked away into the sunset.


End file.
